CodeStock 2008 Developer's Conference

CodeStock's mission is to bring the best and brightest code experts to East Tennessee for a one day conference open to all developers. This is not a trade show with slick salesman giving prepared demos - this is a gathering of real programmers learning about the latest in technology from each other. Sign up now to learn how you can join us for CodeStock 2008!

Speakers and Agenda

We have lined up 30 sessions, a keynote address by respected author and MVP Jeff Prosise, and a place to hang out with speakers and attendees in open spaces style. Check out the list of amazing sessions by awesome speakers. I will be speaking on ASP.NET Dynamic Data, catch it here.

Registration

Registration is open! You can register for CodeStock 2008 now, and reserve your seat at the greatest developer's conference Knoxville has ever seen!

 

Tonight – June 17, 2008 Central-Penn.NET:

Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI), 470 Friendship Road, Harrisburg (3rd floor)

5:30 - 6:00: Content Management and Workflow with SharePoint (Andy Heller)
Microsoft Sharepoint is a platform for information.  One core component that is gaining traction among users is content management and workflow.  We will take a view at how content management and workflow in SharePoint can be relevant to the developer community.

6:00 - 6:30: Pizza and business meeting

6:30 - 7:30: SharePoint and Applications:  Workflow Designer (Alejandro Rosado)
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 provides tools to automate business processes and build efficient applications on top of the Microsoft SharePoint platform. Specifically, we will look at the Workflow Designer and see how to create custom event notifications and other collaboration tasks.

7:30: Q/A and cleanup

I will be attending this meeting, see you then!

---

 Tomorrow - June 18, 2008 .NET VALLEY:

Session 1 : 6:00 PM

What’s next for SBS?

Presented By: Michael J. Murphy

Tags: IT Professional | Small Business Server
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
SBS 2003 is 5 years old. When can you expect SBS 2008? What should you know about the move to 64x only? What versions will be available? Have you heard about the mid-size server solution Windows Essential Business Server? What technology gap will this technology fill? How can I take advantage of it? If you want answers to these and other questions join us for a discussion of the upcoming release of SBS 2008 and EBS.

Session 2 : 7:15 PM

Providing Your LINQ to SQL

Presented By: Jason N. Gaylord

Tags: Application Development | LINQ | SQL
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
One of the issues many developers have is generating a solid data layer for their applications. Microsoft realized this and developed LINQ (Language Integrated Query). LINQ can be used to provide the data layer for nearly anything including XML, Objects, and SQL Server. During this talk you'll see how to use LINQ to SQL, build Lambda expressions, and provide a complete data layer with doing very little work.
 

It looks like this will be Philly.NET's BIGGEST EVER code camp.  Check out these stats, sent from Bill Wolff:

· 590+ registered, expect close to 450 attending
· 8 rooms like last time
· Park on the west or north side, north (back of building) is closest to the common and session rooms
· Attendees and speakers must register, all get a badge, speakers get a shirt (please wear it!)
· Several of the partners will have a table for the day, stop by and say hello
· There will be empty attendee bags and a few tables full of goodies
· Volunteers (see below) should start showing up at 7:30 to set up
· We have three high school kids for the day to handle food, trash, and heavy lifting
· The first session is at 8:30
· Lunch is earlier this time – 11:30, Primo Hoagies
· Afternoon snack are hot soft pretzels
· Closing and raffle happen at 4:50 in the common room
· Volunteers are always welcome to help clean up
· The speaker party immediately follows (5:30-7:30) at the Bent Elbow
· Evaluations will happen online this time using SharePoint, results will be posted in less than a week
· Attendees can win one of three Zunes by completing evaluations

 

My session is "An Intro to ASP.NET Dynamic Data".  You'll get the basics of ASP.NET Dynamic Data in about an hour.  You should be able to be up and building some apps w/it after sitting in the session.

 

Friday starts my Tour de' PA, when I leave for the Bloomsburg area then head over to Philly on Saturday then Harrisburg on Sunday.  What a weekend it's going to be!

 

The Strong Coders Community will be hosting its Ask An Expert Live chat on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 6:00 PM Pacific Time and I've been invited to sit in on the expert panel.

 

Get your tough development questions answered by Microsoft MVPs, Regional Directors, and other industry experts. Community experts will be on hand to answer your .NET- and Visual Studio-related questions. No off topic questions please.

 

Please note that questions regarding upcoming products and future product specs might not be answered.

 

 

MSDN Online Chats - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx
Chat Room - http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/chatrooms/msdn.aspx
ICS - http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/vcs/08_0501_msdn_DEV.ics

 

DDD Community Event.  May 3, 2008. More at Plip's.

 

.NET Valley Pre-Bash Party at Sidel's

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

If you've never been to a Pub Night before, you don't know what your missing. It's time to roll up the sleeves and dig in to some great food from Sidel's. We'll have Bruschetta, Fried Mozzarella, Antipasta, Tortellini salad, Mini-beef Wellington’s, and Shrimp. It all begins at 5:30pm. We have limited seating available so if you're sure you'll be there, register today!

 

WOOT!

 

 

 

Philly.NET Meeting

Wednesday April 23

 

Brian Donahue, Vitreo Solutions The Evolution of TDD

 

Test Driven Development has been gaining prominence, and many developers recognize the value it provides. Still, TDD adoption can be a slow and painful process, and often results in early abandonment as challenges mount. Many believe the current body of TDD knowledge puts too much emphasis on testing implementation details, and not enough on testing behavior. Behavior Driven Development (BDD) takes a more focused approach to TDD that can help clarify the testing process, and create a meaningful, readable suite of tests that not only helps you and other developers understand your application, but can be used to show your client that the application is meeting their needs. When developers, customers, and managers can clearly see the value of writing tests, everyone wins.

 

I will be presenting at the HHH event in Philadelphia, Pa on April 3rd, 2008 in the afternoon.  The session title is "Defying Occasionally Connected Challenges with Smart Client Applications" and in this talk, I'll be discussing some of the hottest technologies available and below is the topic breakdown:

• Designers & Developers:

  See how using Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft Expression Blend together to boost team productivity by using familiar tools and technologies on both sides of the web application.

• Lighting up an MFC Application:

  Upgrading legacy applications to work with Microsoft Windows Vista is a snap with new MFC controls that ship with Visual Studio 2008

• Windows Communication Foundation & Workflow Foundation Integration:

  Learn how you can benefit from Microsoft’s new communication and collaboration technologies as well as how you can integrate them to work together to create robust smart client apps

• SQL Server & ADO.NET Sync Services:

  Create applications that allow users to take data offline, where and when they want to, then synchronize and manage conflicts will little effort using the ADO.NET Sync service framework.

 

Wheck out all the great webcasts available!  There's a ton, and definitely something for every developer!

(Hat tip: material below copied from the MSDN Webcasts blog)

Zain Naboulsi Presents Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Overview Webcast Series

Microsoft Developer Evangelist Zain Naboulsi presents a series of webcasts providing an overview of Visual Studio 2008. Zain’s webcasts are always highly informative and very entertaining -- some of the most popular developer webcasts that we have. Here is a list of Zain’s webcasts through April which include developing in Visual Studio 2008 with Windows applications, WPF, Office System, WCF, Workflow Foundation, Linq and Click Once.

MSDN Webcast: Overview of New Tools in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

Join us as we take a look at the new tools that come with the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development system and explain how they can impact your world. Often, we do not have time to explore just what a great tool Visual Studio 2008 is. Much like the Microsoft Office products, we tend to only use a small percentage of what is available. In this session, we look at some of the key tools and describe why they are important to you.

3/13/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: Overview of New Features for Windows Applications (Level 200)

Are you a Windows application developer? Then this session is for you! Here we take a fresh look at how the functionality in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development system empowers Windows developers and helps them create better applications.

3/14/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration:90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: Windows Presentation Foundation Tools in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

What is the big deal with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) anyway? Here we take a brief look at why WPF is cool and how Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 makes writing WPF apps even cooler. So grab the beverage of your choice and let's hang out with WPF.

4/4/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: 2007 Office System Interoperability with Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

Like the 2007 Microsoft Office system? Like Microsoft Visual Studio 2008? Well, just like chocolate and peanut butter, we blend the two together to show you the creamy richness of Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). You have heard about it and seen it in grainy videos (just like Bigfoot), but now you can experience it all for yourself. Come join the fun!

4/10/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation Tools in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

What is the big deal with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) anyway?  Here we take a brief look at why WCF is cool and how Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 makes writing WCF applications even cooler. Let's sit by the virtual seashore and bask in the glow of great WCF tools!

4/14/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: Workflow Foundation Tools in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

What is the big deal with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) anyway? Here we take a brief look at why WF is cool and how Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 makes writing WF applications even cooler. So put down that copy of MSDN Magazine for a little while and let's see some real excitement with workflow!

4/15/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: LINQ Features in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

Think you have heard all there is to know about Microsoft .NET Language-Integrated Query (LINQ)? Think again! In this webcast, we dazzle and amaze you with our staggering array of wondrous tools to make your LINQ experience a memorable one!

4/16/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: Database Features in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

Like working with data? The Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development system comes with many new and improved data tools. Who could say no to those cute little controls? Join this webcast for the ultimate database tools experience that you can have without a laser light show!

4/17/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time | Duration: 90 Minutes

MSDN Webcast: ClickOnce with Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

Does ClickOnce mystify you? In this presentation, learn to publish Windows-based applications to a Web server or network file share for simplified installation. Let's talk about ClickOnce and how it can make your life easier!

4/18/2008 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration: 90 Minutes

Zain’s Visual Studio 2008 Webcast Archive:

MSDN Webcast: Overview of New Classes in the .NET Framework 3.5 (Level 200)

With the release of the new Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 there are a lot of new features to learn. In this session, we take a high-level look at the myriad new classes and show what some of them can do for you today.

MSDN Webcast: Overview of New Designers in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

In this session, we take a deeper look at some of the key new features in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development system. In this lesson, we look at the many new designers that come with the product. Designers are the key to Rapid Application Development and here we illustrate how to accelerate your coding efforts.

MSDN Webcast: Overview of New Features in Visual Studio 2008 (Level 200)

In this webcast, we discuss some of the key new features that make the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 development system great! Join this high-level overview of the product as we focus on the philosophy behind the new features and demonstrate how they compare to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.

More Visual Studio 2008 Webcasts: http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/msdnvs2008.aspx?tab=webcasts

Visual Studio 2008 Virtual Labs: http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/msdnvs2008.aspx?tab=virtuallabs

Visual Studio 2008 Developer Center Home: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2008/default.aspx

 

.NET Valley Live!

Add this event to your calendar

Location: At Luzerne County Community College

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
5:30 PM - 9:00 PM

This event will begin at 5:30pm in room 712 in building 7. Be sure to register for each session in this event by clicking the register button under each presenter's picture. The agenda is as follows below:

Time
Happening

5:30pm
Pizza, Soda, and Social Gathering

6:00pm
Application Development: Mobile Development

7:00pm
Break

7:15pm
IT Professional: What’s New in Windows Server 2008

8:15pm
Raffle and Closing

Session 1 : 6:00 PM

Mobile App Development with .Net Compact Framework, SQLCE and PPC’s

Presented By: John Baird

Tags: Development | .NET | Mobile App | .NET Compact Framework | SQLCE | PPC
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
This introductory presentation will cover the basics of setting up the compact framework, SQLCE, working with emulators, active sync and the differences between developing using the regular .net framework and the compact framework.

Session 2 : 7:15 PM

What’s New in Windows Server 2008

Presented By: Michael J. Murphy

Tags: IT Professional | Windows Server 2008
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
Windows Server 2008, in addition to incorporating new capabilities and enhancements to existing features, includes a number of improvements in the core OS that enhance the Operating System’s capabilities in this area. Features aimed at increasing the ability of Windows Server 2008 to support highly critical workloads by improving operational reliability, reducing system failures, and easing management. We will also discuss improvements in other related elements in the platform that help Windows based systems and services help move an organization's IT Department
 

I have a particular machine that has had some issues when trying to use a few VS 2008 features.  If you come across this post searching for answers hopefully it will save you some time.  Hopefully this post will save me some time too, because my chronic amnesia tends to have me forget all but the last 30 seconds of my life.  :) 

The fix first:  For both issues here, I needed to uninstall all VS 2008 add-on components (like EF, EF tools, Ajax, .NET 3.5 preview, etc...) VS 2008 itself, then .NET Framework 3.5.  Then I reinstalled VS 2008, which reinstalled the framework.  After that I could install the later components/add ons.

The "whys" next: I had at least the last VS 2008 Beta on this machine, and it seems that both problems are tied to it.  I did follow all instructions for uninstalling and reinstalling VS 2008 as is posted at ScottGu's blog which I'll repost here:

"Installation Suggestions

People often ask me for suggestions on how best to upgrade from previous betas of Visual Studio 2008.  In general I'd recommend uninstalling the Beta2 bits explicitly.  As part of this you should uninstall Visual Studio 2008 Beta2, .NET Framework Beta2, as well as the Visual Studio Web Authoring Component (these are all separate installs and need to be uninstalled separately).  I then usually recommend rebooting the machine after uninstalling just to make sure everything is clean before you kick off the new install.  You can then install the final release of VS 2008 and .NET 3.5 on the machine.

Once installed, I usually recommend explicitly running the Tools->Import and Export Settings menu option, choosing the "Reset Settings" option, and then re-pick your preferred profile.  This helps ensure that older settings from the Beta2 release are no longer around (and sometimes seems to help with performance).

Note that VS 2008 runs side-by-side with VS 2005 - so it is totally fine to have both on the same machine (you will not have any problems with them on the same box).  "

The errors:

1) Visual Studio 2008 Designer error: "method not found Boolean system.web.ui.design.viewrendering.get_visible()"

Upon opening an .aspx page and trying to use either the full Design tab or the Split tab, I would get this error inside a small gray box for each control instead of that control's design surface rendering.  After some searching, I came upon this bug report on MS Connect, which had two options - 1) uninstall all things related to VS 2008 and resinstall, (and what's more fun than that?) or 2) Wait for Vista SP1 or install what version of SP1 beta/ctp is available now, which will require you to un/reinstall later anyway.  The workarounds at the connect site work, or if you can wait, then Vista SP1 should fix this issue.

2) Entity Framework error: "Package VC++  Resource Editor Package has failed to load properly" would display whenever I would try to either add a new ADO.NET Entity Data Model via the wizard or whenever I would open and try to edit .edmx files.

I got nowhere searching for this error.  This error has some similar issues related to it, but not quite for this problem.  I had taken the issue to some email lists and forums with no response, or nothing helpful (but thanks, anyway).  Perhaps the VC++ is used in C# and VB.NET Apps for the purpose of editing resource or designer files, which I am going to assume are needed at least on some level with EF tools.  However, when I disabled this package, no other resource or designer intensive parts of VS bombed. 

 

ASP.NET Soup to Nuts

.NET 3.5 Videos

Linq Videos

 

Free eBooks:  Topics are Linq, Ajax & Silverlight

Free Microsoft eLearning - Collection 5134: Developing Rich Experiences with Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0 and Visual Studio® 2005

Free Microsoft eLearning - Clinic 5230 : Developing Enhanced Web Experiences with Microsoft® ASP.NET AJAX Extensions

Microsoft eLearning - More Offers (lists both free and reasonably priced)

 

Visual Studio 2008 Install-fests (already done & gone in Philly and Pittsburg)

December 17th : Allentown, PA
December 18th: Scranton, Pa
January 15th : Harrisburg, PA

The .NET Valley User group meeting will be held the 18th - our group meeting is the install fest!

 

Download Exception Management Strategies & Best Practices

Download Accessing Data using the ObjectDatasource

 

I am giving a presentation titled "Exception Management Strategies" at Luzerne County Community College for the .NET User Group's monthly meeting.  If you haven't done so yet, please register and I'll see you there.

 

That's this Saturday folks!

Where: Harrisburg University (downtown Harrisburg, Pa)

When: 8:00am-4:00pm

What's the scoop:  There are several sessions you can attend, and you are should to register for the event.

I have two talks: Exception Management and Using the ObjectDataSource/Data Source Controls in Web Applications.  I'll be posting the slides and samples after the code camp.

 

I’m often asked to assist with some basic exception handling strategies for code. Below are a few exception handling pointers and hopefully expand on them in later posts.

· After identifying suspect code, determine if it will benefit from exception handling, the tester-doer pattern or the try.parse pattern. There are some times you won’t want to use a try/catch, (e.g. check to see if a connection is closed first before closing it rather than wrapping the close call in a try catch).

· Where possible, catch specific exceptions, not just System.Exception. (i.e. If you know the exception to be caught will be a SqlException, catch that)

· Don’t use return error/success codes and rely on other developers (or yourself) to use or check the value of return codes. More often than not, return values/codes from a function are just wasted.

· Exceptions aren’t always errors. Exceptions can represent errors but they can represent anything that isn’t ordinarily going to happen during the execution of your code, and that isn't always an error.  

· Use the finally block. You’ll be able to save half the coding and coding around other code you’d normally need to do without it. If you don’t use a finally block, not only will you have to check for specific states of variables yourself to cleanup code when an exception has occurred, but you will have to check these flags/variables again when things run smooth.  Finally trims code and makes things smoother.

· Make sure the state of the application hasn’t changed after the exception. There is one of two states that you want to leave an application method after an exception, 1) the state the app was in before the method call or 2) as if the method had never run before.  Either way, if an exception occurs, you have some work to do to make sure the app state is solid.

· Users should never have to see or deal with an exception that has been bubbled all the way up the stack. Not only does break the state rule but the user has just lost confidence in this application.   The only worse thing you can do to the user now is to have the app hang all day.

· Log all exceptions. By logging all exceptions, you can generate information, metrics and reports about the internal state of the program to perform diagnostics and create a better quality version next release.

 

Available on the MSDN Subscriber downloads.  Get it hot off the press!  Of course, you may be best off waiting a bit for the load to calm down, as the servers are very busy serving up VS downloads to the masses of developers currently downloading.

 

If you would like a dropdown that displays one static item such as  “–Choose One—“ while the rest of the items are data bound, then check out the code below:

<asp:DropDownList ID="drpProucts" runat="server"

    DataSourceID="ProductsDS" DataTextField="ProductName" DataValueField="ProductId"

    Width="150px" AppendDataBoundItems="true">

    <asp:ListItem Text="--Choose One--" Value=""></asp:ListItem>

</asp:DropDownList>

Set the AppendDataBoundItems property of the dropdown list to True, and add in the static list item.  Your dropdown will look something like this:

And there we go!  A dropdown list that also has a static entry stating to the user that s/he should choose an entry from the dropdownlist.

 

Trying to keep up to date?  Download the .NET 3.5 Commonly referenced namespaces poster. There's two sizes, a nice .pdf file and a two file split download in case you want to re-wallpaper your cubicle.

 

November 13^th: Central Penn.NET User Group Meeting
Scott Allen’s topic is titled “Going Asynchronous with ASP.NET AJAX”.    Judy Calla will be speaking about SQL Reporting Services.

November 19^th: Lehigh Valley .NET UG Meeting
The topic and speaker are TBD.

November 27^th:  .NET Valley Live Event
Our local guys Jason Gaylord and Mike Murphy will be speaking on developer and IT topics that are still TBD.

November 20^th: Philly .NET Group Meeting
This month’s meeting is the “15 minutes of fame” where 10 presenters will be presenting for 15 minutes on their favorite topics.

Special Event - December 1^st: Harrisburg, Pa Area Code Camp! 
A code camp in the state capitol!
Along with other presenters, I will be speaking on Exception Management Strategies & Best Practices.  Check out the Central-Penn.NET user group website for more information.

 

Multitargeting is targeting specific versions of the .NET Framework, in the Visual Studio 2008 Betas and later you can target the 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 frameworks for development. 

So, why multitarget?  You may have to support existing code bases that were previously written using Visual Studio 2005 targeting the .NET 2.0 Framework with AJAX 1.0 and want to upgrade just your Visual Studio IDE to take advantage of new feature sets.  Or, you may have directives from management, company or client policy to keep creating on the 2.0 codebase until further notice.   Whatever the reason, you can target the version that’s right for your project.

How to target different framework versions: 

You can select the framework version you want when you start a new project or website.  The project type doesn't matter, multitargeting is available for Winforms, ASP.NET or any type of project template you decide to use.

Once you've started your project, if version requirements change at any time, you can adjust easily.  You can target different versions by visiting the project properties dialog box and selecting the Build tab (left side).   The versions available to target will display on the right (circled below).

And that's all there is, it's easy to try out different .NET framework versions or switch versions using Visual Studio 2008.

 

Download the VB9 Beta language specs here.  And the C# version is here.  There's some new great features listed in the VB9 specs, I'm looking forward to digging into query expressions, generic type inference and partial methods (all described in the VB doc).

 

On October 24th at our monthly .NET Valley meeting, we are pleased to have Steve Andrews from RDA Corporation speaking at on Visual Studio 2005 tips and tricks.   It looks like a fun night for developers!  Welcome, Steve!

I also am preparing to speak at the Harrisburg Area Code Camp 2007 on Dec 1st.  As the date approches, I will have more information.

 

Software developers need to be aware of security but oh so many aren’t.  Security shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be right up front with the rest of your project’s requirements and built in from the start.  We should always think about being secure and developing our applications securely.  Nowadays we cannot leave it to the systems administrator to lock down a few files or directories for us, we need to be proactive in our approach and development methodology, as it’s our responsibility just as much to ensure that data about our customers or coworkers is safely kept and transported.  Here's a few security related issues to think about when starting your next development project:

Evaluating Threat Potential & Risk
Preventing SQL Injection
Preventing common attacks (buffer overruns, xss scripting, etc…)
Encrypting data
Securing the layers
.NET Security specifics
    Securing the web.config file,  IIS  & ASP.NET
    Forms, Windows or other authentication types
Database security
Human factors

 

Use the above list (and there’s more to be aware of, but for now this will have to do) in your next project, and you’ve already taken steps to make your apps a little more secure.  I will try to break out some of these items and write more about them in upcoming posts, but this is definitely something to get you started thinking about security, andI cannot stress enough to developers to focus on this area more.

 

Microsoft has released V 1.0 of Silverlight.  Microsoft is going strong with Silverlight not because it's just a competitor to flash but it's going to be the premiere way to deliver deep, rich user experiences right along with your data.  It's also cross platform, if you check out the news flash you'll notice the words "Linux" in there.

Note to developers: if you think this is exclusively for the designers you might want to check out the Alpha tools for VS 2008.

Official News Here

Silverlight Home Page

 

This site's been around for a while now but I keep getting asked where to get good videos so here it is:  ASP.NET How To Series. 

Some of the topics you can view there:

• Beginner series
• ASP.NET Ajax
• Visual Studio Team System
• Visual Studio Add-Ins
• First Look Videos (LINQy-licious)
• Migrating to ASP.NET
• More, more more... go check it out already!

 

September 15th:  Philly .NET is hosting a Code Camp!  I will not be able to attend myself, but it looks like there's a great line up of speakers and topics. 

September 16^th:  Central Penn.NET Meeting

Topic to be determined.  I'll update this as soon as I know.

September 19th: .NET Valley Live Meeting

It's IT Pro night at DNV! Our own Michael Murphy will be hosting both sessions:

Sesison 1: Optimizing your IT Infrastructure with Microsoft Forefront and Microsoft System Center

Session 2: Next Generation Networking with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

 

 

Here's the rundown on this months events:

July 16th: Lehigh Valley .NET User Group Meeting

This event will feature Peter Laudati from Microsoft.

July 17^th:  Central Penn.NET Meeting

Kevin Goff will be doing an Intro to WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). 

July 18th: Philly .NET Meeting

The Philly .NET group has several topics going on this night.  Silverlight w/Aaron Shafer, Acropolis w/Bill Wolff and PowerShell for Developers w/Rob Keiser. 

July 18th: .NET Valley Live Meeting

I will be presenting on WSS Content Types & Site Columns and Jason Gaylord will be presenting on Using the Design Controls in ASP.NET.

It looks like another great month to be a developer in Pa.

 

June 17^th:  Central Penn.NET Meeting

Hands On FUN!!! This sounds great! You get to try out new things in a round table style meeting with helpful developers around.  This should be a great time indeed.

June 18th: Lehigh Valley .NET User Group Meeting

Tim Yocum from HLN Consulting will be the presenter.  Check the LV UG website for more details on the topic.

June 27th: .NET Valley Live Meeting

Mike Murphy will be presenting on Exchange 2007 Routing & Transport. The developer session is AJAX Best Practices given by Lindsay Rutter, a developer evangelist from Microsoft Corp. 

 

To download the SharePoint technologies overview PowerPoint slides click here.

SharePoint Links:

Official SharePoint Website
WSS 3.0 vs. MOSS 2007 Edition Comparison Matrix

WSS Book Recommendation:
Developer's Guide to Windows SharePoint Services v3 Platform

Also, check out the ASP.NET Pro Magazine that was in your swag bag - there's a great article about WSS 3.0 Features Framework.  I do not see it online yet so it's print only so far (unless you have a subscription and login). You can take advantage of 6 months of ASP.NET Pro for free as well, there is a coupon in your handouts from the conference.

 

May 19^th : TECHbash 2007.

This is for both ITPros and Developers, there's several sessions available as well as tons of free software and goodies.  There's still some room left so register now!

May 15th : Central-Penn.NET Meeting, presentations by David Laribee:

Drive by Enterprise Library 3.0: Validation and
Test Driving NHibernate and the Domain Model

May 15th : Lehigh Valley.NET User's Group Meeting

Peter Laudati from Microsoft will be presenting this month.

May 16^th : Philly .NET Code Camp

It's the pre code camp kick-off PUB.NET night at Philly.NET.  There are no more seats available for the Philly.NET Code Camp on May 19th, so you might want to catch this meeting instead. 

 

April 16^th - Lehigh Valley .NET user group

Dani Diaz from the Philly .NET user group will be speaking on the .NET Provider Model.

---

April 17^th - Central Penn .NET user group

Robert Green (INETA Speaker) will be discussing these two topics:

Building Office Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office
Developing Office 2007 Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition

---

April 18th - Philly .NET user group

Robert Green makes the rounds to yet another PA user group event!

Building Office Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office
Developing Office 2007 Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition

 

Run over right now to the TECHbash website and register for Northeastern Pennsylvania's premiere technical event!  There will be sessions for both IT Pros and Developers.

Just a few great things about the event:

• Lots of giveaways - books, magazines, software, t-shirts, etc...
• Premiere software raffles
• Great presentations on the latest technologies available from Microsoft and Cisco.
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*I will be presenting the SharePoint Technologies overview.  This is a great chance to get a look at what MOSS 2007/WSS 3.0 has to offer!

 

It's going to be "Data Controls Day" at the Central Penn .NET user group this month on March 20th.  I will be presenting on the SqlDataSource for the first session and the ObjectDataSource for the last session.

These have been great topics that have been generating lots of interest at my home group .NET Valley.

Hope to see you there.

 

 

As a supplement to my talks at the Central Penn .NET User's group and the .NET Valley User's group this month, I am providing some information on using the ObjectDataSource control.

ObjectDataSource Summary:

The ObjectDataSource is made for use in n-Tier applications, and you will want to create at least a DAL (data access layer) and you will most likely have a BLL (business logic layer) as well.  The ObjectDataSource provides a nice layer of abstraction between the UI and the data storage, whereas the SqlDataSource has a standard client/server architecture with direct access between it and the data store. 

The ObjectDataSource also provides caching, paging, sorting, data binding and many other handy and useful features.

A Few Notes: 

Build your BAL/DLL first, then start mapping the object's methods and properties to the ObjectDataSource.  This will make your custom objects more applicable to other apps, which is a good thing when building large systems with reusable components.

Use a Data Mapper pattern. In short, this entails creating an entity class that map its properties to the fields in database tables, and another class for managing/transporting the entity class between the ObjectDataSource and the data access layer/data store.  When you use the Data Mapper pattern you will set the DataObjectTypeName property of the ObjectDataSource to the entity class and pass the entity class as an argument to your Insert/Update/Delete methods.  It's easier and more maintainable than having to pass several dozen arguments (aka, each field as an argument) to your Insert or Update methods. 

You can also use just a data manager class with methods that map to CRUD operations.

Or, you can use the ObjectDataSource with a strongly typed DataSet.

Tips/Tricks/Gotchas:

While you will use the DataObjectType name to assign your entity class to the ObjectDataSource, you will use the TypeName property to assign your manager class or to bind to a strongly typed dataset.

Match the field names of your bound controls to your custom object property names. The ObjectDataSource uses Reflection to figure out the mapping between the names so they need to be named the same.

The ObjectDataSource cannot call remote objects directly (BAL/DLL objects on another machine). You'll need to create a wrapper locally and use remoting, web services or the like to make the connection.

For one way inserts, such as a data entry web page, consider not even using the ObjectDataSource. You can just as easily create the ADO.NET code yourself.  Also, the configuration wizard will not allow you to move to the next step without choosing a select method.

Use caching! Appropriately, of course.  Static data such as product, employee, states, countries, etc... are great types of data to be cached.  The ObjectDataSource takes advantage of caching just as much as the next control.

Moving from the SqlDataSource? It's fairly easy in most cases. 

1. Add your custom class/strongly typed DataSet to your project. 
2. Open your .aspx page and delete the SqlDataSource control
3. Add the ObjectDataSource control to the page and use the Configure smart tag to connect to your custom class/DataSet
4. Reset the DataSourceId property of the bound control(s) such as the GridView or Repeater.
5. If it asks about Refreshing, say No - unless you need to, but you probably don't.
6. Your mileage may vary depending on the exact circumstances but I've found it easily in most situations to quickly make the switch.

ObjectDataSource Resources:

MSDN Documentation on ObjectDS
Code Project's Comprehensive Guide to the ObjectDataSource